To avoid the Valentine rush, Stan and I had our romantic dinner last night at New Mill Restaurant in Southington. The food was pretty delicious, but it was noisy. The bar was crowded and we were seated right next to it. It didn’t matter though, we were there together and we got dressed up.

My favorite outfit detail is the bow on the back of my Holly Golightly dress.

I’m starting to wig out a little. Stan is leaving Sunday on a two-week trip to Israel! I’m mostly excited for/jealous of him, but also a little bit terrified because of all the… uncertainty over there. But I’m sure he’ll be safe. I will just need to keep very occupied because we won’t be able to talk much. I’ll be lucky if I get a text a day from him. International data/phone plans are crazy expensive. Anyway, let’s send him happy thoughts and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

We’re getting into the homestretch of Valentine’s Day, so I’m breaking out a classic with a bit of a twist. Not only are these strawberries covered in chocolate, I also added caramel and sea salt into the equation. Oh yeah; they’re incredible. And easy to make even if you don’t have a double boiler or fondue-maker (I have neither).

small pot and heat-safe glass (I use a Pyrex measuring cup) or double boiler or fondue maker

large dish or baking sheet

wax paper

1. Wash strawberries, then lay them out on a few paper towels to dry for a few minutes. Chocolate doesn’t stick very well to wet strawberries.

2. Fill a small pot with about an inch and a half of water, then insert your heat-safe glass, making sure not to get any water inside the glass. This will serve as your DIY double-boiler. Place this on a burner and turn it to medium-low heat.

3. Add your chocolate to the glass and stir it occasionally as it melts.

4. To make caramel and chocolate dipped strawberries, you’ll want to dip them in your caramel sauce first (it may need to be microwaved), then sprinkle them with your course sea salt (optional but oh-so-good), then freeze them for 20-30 minutes before dipping them in chocolate. If you go from caramel sauce right to chocolate, it gets a little messy.

5. Once the chocolate is completely melted (check that there are no lumps), go ahead and dip in a strawberry! I just used my hand here, but after a while, I found that the strawberries would get too heavy once they were dipped, so I started sticking them on a fork before I dipped them.

6. Place your dipped strawberries on a baking sheet or large dish covered with wax paper to let harden. Optional: drizzle with caramel sauce.

7. Enjoy immediately or stick them in the fridge or freezer for a few days.

2. Love, Actually. Here’s one I can actually get Stan to watch. ;) The all-British cast is amazing — Hugh Grant (I’ll watch pretty much anything he’s in), Alan Rickman, Kiera Knightly, Emma Thompson… well, you know. There’s so much to love about this movie, but my favorite dynamic is between Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and Daniel (Liam Neeson).

3. Say Anything. A classic, of course! Who could forget the infamous Lloyd Dobler “In Your Eyes” boombox scene that has been referenced and imitated throughout pop culture since 1989? Also, young John Cusack totally reminds me of Stan.

4. 10 Things I Hate About You.I’m also a sucker for retellings of Shakespeare plays, and 10 Things I Hate About You falls right into that category (it’s a modern-day Taming of the Shrew). Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles form the primary couple in this rom-com, but let’s not forget it helped put a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the map. (And thank goodness it did!)

5. Elizabethtown. Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom are just so friggin’ cute in this movie.

6. One Day. I just watched this for the first time over the weekend while Stan was visiting friends in New Hampshire. I couldn’t even handle it. It’s one of those movies I wish I had seen with him – or at least when he was around. I won’t say anything more because I don’t want to ruin it, but if you haven’t seen it, do!

7. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. Lee Pace makes me swoon. I loved him in Pushing Daisies, and I’m so sad it was canceled because he was so dreamy in it. (Writing this is turning me into a pre-teen all over again). And Amy Adams, as usual, is spectacular.

8. The Great Gatsby (2013). I love the 1920s. (Remember my murder mystery birthday party?) This might seem like blasphemy to some of you, but I like the 2013 Great Gatsby better than the 1974 original. I think Leonardo DiCaprio makes a better Gatsby. He’s more human, emotional, nervous, and likable. And I really do love Baz Luhrmann’s over-the-top fantastical party scenes and modern music. I think many of us fell in love with Lana Del Ray’s voice in this movie. If you stop 20 minutes before the end of the movie, you can imagine a happier ending.

9. Titanic. Speaking of Leo, how could I not include Titanic? It was probably the first romantic film I saw in theaters. I remember seeing it with my first “boyfriend,” his mom, and his best friend. (I was in 5th grade. Pretty sure we just held hands and that was considered dating.) I maintained for a very long time that Rose could’ve moved her ass over to fit Jack on the door she floated on, but Reddit disproved this assumption with physics. So we can all stop thinking that now, and move on.

10. A Knight’s Tale. I’m also a big fan of Renaissance-era film and TV (which is why Stan and I frequent the renaissance faires), so of course A Knight’s Tale is on my list. It’s quirky and fun, and I miss Heath Ledger. :(

11. Shakespeare in Love. While we’re in the Renaissance period, let’s talk about Shakespeare in Love. It’s purposefully inaccurate, which of course is part of its charm. Joseph Fiennes is dreamy (oh there I go again) as William Shakespeare, suffering from severe (and hilarious) writer’s block and Gwyneth Paltrow plays a fantastically strong female lead opposite him. It’s a kind of happier version of Romeo and Juliet.

12. Amélie. The French film Amélie revolves mainly around do-gooder Amélie Poulain helping out friends, family, and strangers… even if they don’t think they need her help. Audrey Tautou is adorable in it, and in the end, she finds a little happiness of her own.

13. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. You might be surprised to find this on my list of romantic films. But I do love the romance between Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom, and Johnny Depp looks hot even as a dirty scoundrel.

14. Stardust. Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, Stardust follows a hopeless romantic named Tristan as he chases after a fallen star (played by Claire Danes) to prove his love to a woman in his village. It’s a sweet, fantastical movie, made even better by Robert De Niro’s portrayal of a cross-dressing pirate.

Valentine’s Day is around the corner. So while Stan and I were stuck inside yesterday due to Winter Storm Juno, I snuck into my office for a while to make these hand-stamped kraft paper Valentines. They’re easy to make, and are a cute idea if you’ve got kiddies in school — they can make these for their classmates!